I am working on a fixed length file export. I have created a spec for the export with the field names, start position, and length. All the fields seem to be exporting in the correct position, but when I turn around and import the file using the same spec, I am getting some unusual results.

One thing I see is that although I wish all the fields to be exported as text, some are exporting as numbers. I have looked at the spec in the MSysIMEXColumns table and it shows most as Datatype 10, which I seem to remember is text. There are three fields however that show either a 4 or 16 as datatype. I think these are Integer and Long.

I have tried editing the table, but am not able to change these values. I do not see a place when building the spec to force a datatype, only the start position and length.

How can I force this to be exported / imported as text rather than a number?